Kristopher Funk is an award-nominated mixed-media installation artist and game designer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He creates puzzle-based experiences that tackle questions of identity and access, specifically dealing with their experiences navigating the world as queer and neurodiverse. Funk received a BA in Comparative Media Studies and Game Design from Whittier College and an MFA in Digital Art and New Media from UCSC. They have exhibited their work at Liminal Space’s “Northern Lights” and UCSC’s Festival of Monsters and Indiecade Game Nights 2024. Funk currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ: Digital Arts and New Media MFA, 2024
WHITTIER COLLEGE: Comparative Media Studies BA and Game Design Minor, 2021
✾ Arduino ✾ Raspberrypi ✾ 3D Printing ✾ Blender ✾ Digital Illustration ✾ Puzzle Design ✾ Large-scale Fabrication ✾ Micro-electronics ✾ Bambu Studios ✾ Narrative Design ✾ Environmental Storytelling ✾ Laser Cutting ✾ Prototyping ✾ Experience Design ✾ Storytelling ✾ Creative Writing ✾ Prose ✾
Projects
✾ Facades of Ingress Live Interactive Sculptural Game
✾ Will You Follow Me? Live Action Narrative Game
✾ Alice in Genderbend Escape Room
Nominations
Indiecade 2024, Facades of Ingress - Live Action Spotlight Award Nominee
Exhibitions and Publications
✾ Indiecade Game Nights, Facades of Ingress November 2024
✾ Festival of Monsters, Facades of Ingress October 2024
✾ MFA Thesis: Facades of Ingress, Published through Proquest June 2024
✾ Embodiment: UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Exhibition, Facades of Ingress May 2024
✾ Northern Lights by Liminal Space Collective, Alice in Genderbend January 2023
✾ UCSC Digital Arts and New Media Open Studios, Will You Follow Me? (Escape Room Edition) June 2023
✾ The Greenleaf Review Issue 34: Voices in Color, Bonfire Breeze Spring 2021
Experience
✾ GAME MASTER for Clockwise Escape Room, Summer 2024 - Winter 2025
✾ TEACHING ASSISTANT for Performance, Play, and Design at UCSC, Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
✾ ASSISTANT COURSE DEVELOPER for ARGT 50g Play as a Radical Endeavor at UCSC, Fall 2022 - Spring 2024
✾ COURSE DESIGNER for DANM 50-10 Gayming: Intro to Queer Theory at UCSC, Winter 2022
✾ DESIGN TEAM LEAD and GAME MASTER at Red Door Escape Room Concord, Summer 2021-Spring 2022
✾ GENERAL MANAGER at KPOET Radio, Spring 2019 - Spring 2021
✾EVENT COORDINATOR at KPOET Radio, Fall 2018- Spring 2019
✾ RADIO SHOW HOST of Alt Bops and The Crypt at KPOET Radio, Fall 2017 - Spring 2019
References
✾ PATRICK MICHAEL BALLARD: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; pballard@ucsc.edu
✾ MICHAEL CHEMERS: Chair and professor of Performance Play and Design; chemers@ucsc.edu
✾ GEOFFERY LONG: Director of Miami Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Lab; glong@geofferylong.com
✾ ELIZABETH SWENSEN: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; eswensen@ucsc.edu
✾ CYNTHIA LING LEE: Assistant professor of Performance Play and Design; clee185@ucsc.edu